Sentencing; Scoring of OV 7; MCL 777.37(1)(a); People v Hardy; Departure sentence; MCL 769.34(3)

Holding that the trial court did not err in scoring 50 points for OV 7, and that defendant’s departure sentence was proportional to the offense and the offender, the court affirmed. He was convicted of CSC II. His minimum guidelines range was 29 to 57 months. The trial court “addressed defendant’s repeated and escalating conduct as well as [his] use of his police uniform, weapon, and car to cajole students into sexual conduct, and” upwardly departed from the guidelines to sentence him to 9 to 15 years. As to his challenge to the scoring of OV 7, the court concluded “that when a sworn law enforcement officer, who for years is assigned as a school safety officer and school resource officer, regularly preys upon an adolescent for about two years when the victim is in high school, and commits multiple acts of sexual abuse, while on school property, in the school building in full uniform and armed with a weapon, in a private place, against the student, all under the guise of helping, mentoring, and tutoring the student, this conduct was designed to substantially increase the fear and anxiety of the victim so as to allow this brutal and anxiety-causing conduct to continue.” As a result, the “trial court’s consideration of the facts and OV 7 at sentencing was appropriate, particularly where, as here, defendant’s ‘grooming’ of his victim continued during the offense conduct.” The court added that he “would not be entitled to resentencing even if we agreed with his position on this issue because scoring OV 7 at zero points would not change his placement in the sentencing grid.” He also asserted that the trial court erred in imposing its departure sentence “for improper reasons.” But the court noted that defendant “engaged in multiple instances of criminal sexual conduct that continued for years. The trial court reasonably felt that the offense variables did not give sufficient weight to [his] pattern of using his status as a police officer in a school to groom and manipulate students, or the extent of defendant’s abuse of the victims, which is a valid reason for a departure under MCL 769.34(3)(b).”